Originally Posted by CONative
I've got you all beat. I've lived in all sides of Stapleton in the past 14 years. First, I was one of the youngest buyers with my builder in Eastbridge in 2005 and lived there for 2 years... then rented in South End for 1 year while building... and subsequently lived in Central Park North for 7 years, then built and lived in Willow Park East for 3 years, and finally bought my first re-sale Stapleton house in South End a year ago and got the Infinity home I always liked for years. So, I know what it's like to live on all sides of Stapleton. I felt somewhat isolated in WPE -- even though we were only 6 blocks from Northfield retail. I kind of felt "away" from everything, and friends always said we were "so far up there" when visiting our WPE house. Although I do still like Northfield retail (not just the mall, but the businesses north of Northfield Blvd too) and the "feel" up there. I felt a little isolated in Eastbridge too when it was in its infancy, and was part of the initial community planning of the Eastbridge Town Center there...but I knew it would become something more eventually (and it did). Central Park North was a nice location, but not very walkable to a lot of things at the time (except now it's very close to the future and exciting TOD opportunities and rail station). I love South End and the mature aspect of it. I can walk to Stanley Marketplace, the shops/restaurants/gym and retail along the south side of CPB or Montview. The Eastbridge and 29th Town Centers are a brisk walk away or a short bike ride, and it's closer to the city and central Denver than the other Stapleton hoods...
Many folks focus on the 29th, Eastbridge, Northfield Town/Power Centers...but forget there IS scattered retail and such throughout Stapleton. Not every business/retail area in Stapleton is on the "edges" of the development. On top of the Town Centers and Northfield Power Center....you have the retail/shops in the South End at CPB & 23rd to Montview, the liquor store/dry cleaner/small restaurant off MLK & Uinta, Punch Bowl Social, the small retail area at CPB and 40th, the independent retail area at CPB & Northfield, the small retail/commercial strip at CPB & Prairie Meadows, and now the soon-to-be retail/commercial at CPB & 56th and at CPB and Montview. Yes, most of it (not all) is off of CPB...but CPB is also pretty walkable to get to for most Stapleton residents. By no means am I saying that it's some urban oasis in Stapleton, but it's pretty decent for a development of 7.5 square miles. I think too many expected a Belmar in a very large 7.5 square mile area (sorry, not realistic). Stapleton was never supposed to be an Uptown. However, it does have a lot of walkable (and definitely bikeable) areas to get to shops, retail, doctors, dry cleaners, restaurants, etc, etc. I still believe that Stapleton has somewhat fulfilled the "new-urban" (not urban) promise from years ago and still has opportunity to fill in the gaps of more mixed-use and walkable aspects. The vacant parcels mentioned are almost always the hold-outs for Forest City's/Brookfield's plan for higher density housing (usually low-income). However, it has been difficult to find developers that want those parcels. Slowly, but surely the higher density (and low-income development) is coming in though. Stapleton is quite dense for an outer-city-of-Denver neighborhood, and isn't as single-family as many think. There is quite a bit of multi-family housing in Stapleton...and a lot of it is mixed right in with the SF homes. I agree with and know that Forest City has tried to lure more independent, mom & pop businesses that "Stapletonites" want, but so many of those desired retailers have simply said "no", and you can't fault any developer when someone (i.e. Taco Bell) is eager to purchase/lease. Also, I tend to think many Stapletonites and non-Stapleton haters forget or ignore the scattered areas of retail/shop spots I just mentioned ....AND the fact we DO have A LOT of those "independent" stores/restaurants throughout Stapleton already. Many of them are owned by residents of Stapleton, and I'm not just referring to the many Stapleton dentists that live and work here, but also the restaurants, shops, store front businesses that are independently owned in Stapleton by Denver area or Stapleton residents.
Not to mention, every Stapleton resident can't complain about the lack of park/open space...since there is plethora of pocket parks and larger city of Denver parks within Stapleton to enjoy, play, swim, jog, and get on the miles of bike paths.
I said this many years ago on this forum... that people were quick to judge BEFORE the development matures and has a chance to fill in the gaps. Again, it's almost 8 SQUARE MILES! Give it time. Things are coming into place and will get better (as some of you have mentioned) as the vast area known as Stapleton ages and matures.
With that....I have small street-retail, restaurant, eye doctor, insurance company, convenience store, etc -- all within a couple blocks of me. There is also more retail going to be built at the corner of Montview & CPB (wow...ANOTHER Stapleton retail spot that isn't in a Town/Power Center?). The only small negative is how close we are to some higher crime zips of Denver and Aurora, but it's part of city life and the crime isn't really that bad and hasn't affected us. We do love being able to drive downtown and Cherry Creek with much more ease than when we were in WPE.
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